Council

This article may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. It was last updated for
The Reaper's Due.

The council

The Council is a group of specialized characters helping to rule the realm. There are five council positions, each linked to one of the attributes.

Each councilor has three possible jobs, also known as abilities or missions. A councilor can only perform one job at a time, and cannot lead troops while assigned to a job. Once assigned to a job, they get the working status.

A councilor's skill in the linked attribute affects their performance in jobs and boosts your state attribute. Their skills in other attributes is largely unimportant. However, high intrigue skill can make them dangerous if disloyal, due to their doubled plot power.

Vassal patricians in merchant republics and khans in khaganates expect a place on the council. There is an opinion penalty if they are not appointed as councilors.

Prestige, piety, and salary are scaled by rank: doubled for councilors of dukes, tripled for councilors of kings, quadrupled for councilors of emperors. Furthermore, salaries are tripled in merchant republics.

The names of councillors listed above are considered the "default"; they are the ones used for Western European Catholics. With different religion or culture they may have different names. This does not affect their functions (except for Muslims, whose Imam / Mullah performs charity instead of improving religious relations).

(This table is incomplete.)

Culture/Religion

Chancellor

Marshal

Steward

Spymaster

Court Chaplain

Orthodox

Magistros

Protostrator

Sakellarios

Mystikos

Ecclesiarch or Patriarch1

Miaphysite

—

—

—

—

Court Chaplain or Patriarch1

Sunni

—

—

—

—

Court Imam

Shia

—

—

—

—

Court Mullah

Pagan (other than Norse / Aztec)

—

—

—

—

Diviner

Norse

—

—

—

—

Seer

Aztec (religion)

Cihuacoatl

Tlacatecclatl

Petlacalcatl

Tillancalqui

Sahagun

Zoroastrian

Astabadh

Eran Spahbod

Darik-Pat

—

Mobad

Greek

Magistros

Protostrator

Sakellarios

Mystikos

—

Iranian or Arab

Grand Vizier

—

—

—

—

Jewish

—

—

—

—

Court Rabbi

Indian

—

—

—

—

Upadhyaya

1 Normally Ecclesiarch / Court Chaplain. If you are a king or emperor and not the Ecumenical Patriarch's / Coptic Pope's liege, your chaplain's title is Patriarch and he is your realm's religious head (he appears in the church's list of autocephalous patriarchs).

In all cases your councillors must not be incapable or in prison. They must be your courtiers or direct vassals.

Most council positions are only open to men. The exceptions are as follows:

The Spymaster may be your wife or mother. If you appoint your wife, be aware that her Intrigue is only added to your state Intrigue once as your spymaster, not one and a half times as both your spymaster and your wife. Additionally, pagans may appoint female pagan spymasters. Muslim rulers may also appoint their secondary wives as spymasters.

Pagans other than Aztec and Tengri (whether reformed or not) may appoint female chaplains.

Cathars may appoint other Cathars as councillors regardless of gender.

Messalians, like Cathars, can appoint councilors regardless of gender if they have the same religion.

Bogomils may appoint female chaplains.

Some characters have flags marking them as an exception to the usual rules. If they have it, they may be appointed to the appropriate position despite being female or a child. This is used for example for Jeanne d'Arc, who may be your marshal (and lead armies) despite being female.

Kingdom claim: Requires the "Become King" ambition, but works on any de jure kingdom. Once per lifetime. The chance of this occurring depends on the value of the Chancellor's diplomacy: 20% chance if Diplomacy is 22 or above, 10% chance if Diplomacy is between 18 and 21, 5% chance if Diplomacy is between 15 and 17, 2% chance if Diplomacy is 14 or below. Costs 2 years' income.

Duchy claim: 10% if the chancellor's diplomacy attribute is between 15 and 17, 20% if between 18 and 19, and 30% if 20 or above. Costs 2 years' income.

County claim: This is the result if the conditions or rolls for higher title claims fail. Costs 1 year's income.

Lose prestige based on your current tier, and lose scaled_wealth based on the tier of the claimed title. You are allowed to go negative.

Failure: The target gets an event letting them attempt to assassinate or bribe the chancellor.

Sow Dissent

Success: A negative temporary opinion modifier both ways from the vassal at the targeted province and his liege.

Success: Get event troops (Three stacks each 2.5% of realm levies, minimum of 100 and maximum of 3000), which must be used to raid within 5 months or else be disbanded, costing money. Must be at peace to trigger.

Success: Get event troops (Three stacks, each 7.5% of realm levies, minimum of 100 and maximum of 3000), which must be used in battle within one year (plus or minus three months) or else be disbanded, costing prestige.) Troops are automatically disbanded when war ends, although they will remain if another war was declared before ending the first one.

Discovers plots. If you have no Spymaster, you will not discover any plots.

If the Spymaster is plotting against you, they won't tell you! It is very important to for your Spymaster to have a high opinion of you. Ideally they also have high ai_honor, although most traits that increase Intrigue skill also decrease ai_honor.

Removes fog of war from the job province and all neighboring provinces, making both "Study Technology" and "Build Spy Network" useful for scouting.

Failure: The chaplain is attacked, being killed or injured. You lose 10 Prestige.

Failure: The chaplain accuses a vassal of heresy. The vassal gives you an event in which you can choose to back them up or back up your chaplain. You get an opinion bonus with one and a penalty with the other.

Success: Raise zealot event troops. Three stacks, each 7.5% of realm levies, minimum of 100 and maximum of 3000. If not used in a religious war within one year (plus or minus three months) or explicitly disbanded, they will leave, costing piety.

Councilors have increased plot power against you. Watch out for councilors who have traits that increase inclination to join assassination plots, such as Deceitful . This is especially if they have low opinion of you, high intrigue skill, or the spymaster position.

With Conclave: councilors with certain traits may trigger an "abuse of office" event that gives them 100 wealth. If the councilor is a courtier, you'll have an opportunity to seize or inherit this wealth. These events can increase revolt risk, so they should be avoided if you're an independent count.

With Conclave: councilors who are Content are more likely to select the Loyalist stance. On the other hand, content vassals rarely join factions, so they are less important to pacify with council jobs.

With The Reaper's Due: landed rulers who are Paranoid may go into seclusion even when there is no epidemic disease present in their capital. They will be unable to trigger mission events while in seclusion, but they will still contribute to your state attributes and will still be upset if fired.

With The Reaper's Due: you may wish to appoint the same character as Lord Spiritual and Court Physician. Both depend on learning skill, and the +10 opinion from the council position will sometimes earn you better treatment for your diseases. If you choose to do so, traits that affect court physician efficacy should be your primary concern.

Depending on your council laws, some actions will require a council vote. Bypassing the council's decision is considered an act of tyranny. Vassals may create factions to demand increased council power.

With the Conclave DLC active, a player's most powerful vassals will clamor for a seat on their liege's council. Those who are eligible for a position, but do not have one, get a -40 opinion penalty toward their liege. This can stack with similar opinion penalties for patricians in a merchant republic or khans in a khaganate.

The number of "powerful vassals" is one less than the number of voting seats. This allows for the fact that most rulers cannot appoint a powerful vassal as Court Chaplain.

When the council is empowered to vote on War Declarations, councilors cannot join factions while the council is content. The council is considered discontent for several years after succession or tyrannically bypassing a council vote. Tribal and nomadic councilors are not prevented from joining factions.

Advisors are extra voting positions in kingdoms and empires. Kings have 1 advisor slot and emperors have 2 slots. The council must be empowered for advisor slots to appear. Advisor seats are only visible in the "My Council" tab.

Advisors do not affect state attributes or job action performance, so their skills are unimportant. These seats are typically given to "powerful vassals" whose abilities are too low for any standard council seat. Advisors can be useful as active commanders, since they are not busy with job actions.

Councilors can be swapped into advisor roles instead of being fired. This is useful if a poorly skilled vassal uses a favor to force their way onto the council. To ensure the correct advisor takes the main council seat, right-click the existing advisor rather than the main councilor.